1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of aligning a wafer and a wafer alignment apparatus for performing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of aligning a wafer, which is capable of precisely and rapidly aligning the wafer, and a wafer alignment apparatus for performing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
During various semiconductor manufacturing processes, a wafer is aligned at a predetermined location. These semiconductor manufacturing processes may include an inspection process for inspecting a surface of the wafer, a photolithography process, an electric die sorting (EDS) process, and others. In particular, the wafer should be accurately aligned in the inspection process so that a precise image is displayed on inspection equipment. The inspection process may be performed during or after the semiconductor manufacturing processes. The wafer should be rapidly inspected to improve a productivity of the semiconductor device.
The wafer may be aligned in an exposure unit in a photolithography process so that the semiconductor has a narrow line width. When the wafer is accurately aligned, the exposure unit prints a pattern on a surface of the wafer.
In a conventional method of aligning an exposure device, primary data is stored, and a wafer is introduced into the exposure device to form an image of the entire wafer, thereby forming an image file. The wafer is exposed using the image file. In accordance with this conventional method, however, a wafer having an image that is different from the stored image may not be rapidly inspected.
When a wafer having a different image is to be aligned, the whole surface of the wafer having the different image must be scanned to form a template pattern after the wafer having the different image is introduced into the wafer alignment apparatus.
Thus, when a kind of the wafer is changed, the whole surface of the wafer is scanned, thereby decreasing the productivity of the semiconductor device.